Green zoning code information

[ryan21]

Hi everyone! I have been sending this letter out to see if anyone can help me in my research on green zoning practices. I thought that it might be good to put it up on this site and see if anyone had any information. here's the letter:


My name is Ryan and I am an urban policy intern with the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, a community organizing and community development project, in Youngstown, Ohio. The City of Youngstown is preparing to complete a major overhaul to its zoning code for the first time since the 1960s. I am working to compile best practices from other cities with similar issues to Youngstown. We will be using this information to inform grassroots citizens and to organize support and alignment for zoning code updates with current community development and planning efforts underway in the city.

I am more specifically looking for sections of the zoning code from the community in which you work relating to green uses (community gardens, green houses, animal husbandry, pocket parks, adaptive reuse of vacant land), as well as the conversion of zoning in formerly residential, commercial or industrial areas to some type of green uses. Any other information related to sustainable development, green uses or adapting zoning to a shrinking city context that you can share would be helpful to our community. If you could send me sections of the zoning code from your community relating to these topics or at the least point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Ryan

Thanks for checking this out and any information or comments would be welcomed.
take care,
-Ryan

[mike gurnee]

Me too. With one added concern. I am trying to develop a sustainable zoning/development code; however, I want it to be almost self-executing. Greensburg will not have a planner forever. I need a code that can be administered by someone with a minimum of training.